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Tourists at the Grand Canyon

Friday, December 2, 2016

Shhh...do you hear that? It's so quiet. It has been a few days since Jer's family left and I flipping miss the chaos of having nine people under one roof. The chit chat, the laughter, the skateboarding in the house, the trying to control our dog so she didn't eat the little one, the constant nagging for the girls to hurry up and get ready...I miss it all.

It was everyone's first time to Arizona so we played tour guide for the week. Their main request was to visit the Grand Canyon. I mean, who wouldn't want to see one of the seven wonders of the world, right?!? This would be a first for everyone since we had yet to visit.

Jer took it upon himself to watch a very informative YouTube video and he advised he had our whole day planned out. We packed up the van and headed north to the South Rim of the canyon.

We followed our tour guide with confidence until he kept switching directions and would constantly check his YouTube video for reassurance that we were at the right spot.

Mather's Point is one of the first view points you will come across after parking your vehicle near the visitors center. This was our first location for multiple photo ops.

Would have been nice if a map would have been in that back pocket...

I really thought that we were going to pull a National Lampoon's Vacation and get out of the car, take a look, and head back home. Not the case at all.

The views were hard to pull yourself away from.

That is, until the boys decided to test their rock climbing capabilities. Leaving my anxiety level at an all time high. There may have been a few high pitched screeches on my part.

After they had their thrills we headed back to the van for a quick bite to eat and to warm up. It was freezing which I was not prepared for.

We followed our trusty tour guide to the shuttle buses to take the blue route (Village Route) to the red route (Hermits Rest Route). Our end goal was to stop at Hermits Rest.

Well, once we got off the bus and saw the long lines to the other view points we took a vote. The teens were getting a little grabby and wanted to head back. We did what any clever adults would do and handed them the keys to the van and told them we would meet them there.The rest of us decided we wanted to take the scenic route. We walked the Rim Trail. Taking in the crisp air and dramatic views along the way.

You can spend days here and still not see everything that it has to offer. The South Rim has three trail routes. (The Village Route, Hermits Rest Route, and the Kaibab Trail Route). We mainly stuck to the Village Route.

There are shuttle buses that run every 15 minutes or so. They stop at the majority of the view points which is convenient if you don't want to hike the whole way.

The Rim Trail is about thirteen miles starting at the Kaibab Trailhead and runs to Hermits Rest. It is mostly paved so it is an easy hike offering killer views.

We took in the final views and made the trek back home. Pat on the back to our trusty tour guide for a fun filled day.